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The Red Hook Star-RevueServing the Brooklyn Communities of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill FREE No. 2, July 2010

The Red Hook Star-Revue101 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11231

Hook, it would be most likely be on a few busi-nesses in the immedi-ate neighboring area, particularly along Van Brunt street.

Judging from the anec-dotal results of a recent informal Star-Revue survey, businesses

within the vicinity of Ikea seem large-ly unaffected. Lee Reiter of the Mill-

bern Travel Wa-terfront, which is located a few short blocks from Ikea, explained that she moved her business to Red Hook five years ago because

of a new opportunity and an up-and-coming neighborhood. Although Re-iter admits that Ikea has not had any identifiable impact on business, noth-ing negative has come from it. “A lot of people blame the traffic only on Ikea, but I believe Fairway is equally to blame.” Reiter identifies Ikea as a major component of the economic upswing in Red Hook as it does bring more people to the area, but it is not the sole source. If anything, Ikea raises awareness of the neighborhood itself and some of the stores or attractions it has to offer.

Other businesses have seen positives in the past cou-ple years which they credit to the Swedish furni-ture giant. F&M Bagels is located just a few blocks from Ikea on Van

Brunt street. Owner/Manager Frankie opened up his own business eight years ago and has since seen a stron-

It is no secret that the Red Hook area of Brooklyn has been experiencing a major upswing for the better part of the last decade. Many young people have moved to Red Hook as the rent prices are significantly lower than in other neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Manhattan. With that, there are more opportunities for successful businesses to open as there is more money in the neighborhood, as well as a brand new market to sell to. This creates a com-munity in Red Hook where a motor-cycle repair shop that has been servic-ing people for twenty-five years is just as successful as the vintage clothing store just a couple of blocks away.

One major result of this shift is the project that brought an Ikea to Red Hook. When the idea was first an-nounced in 2005, it was met with heavy criticism from many local people. The most common complaint was that it would bring a whole new mess of traffic to the area. Many peo-ple also believed that there would be no spillover to other businesses in the neighborhood and that Ikea could potentially take business away from smaller stores.

After numerous protests and lawsuits led by local activists, Ikea opened up in June 2008. The impact that Ikea has had on Red Hook can be hard for the average person to see, mostly because there is not much of one on the average person. If Ikea were to have an effect on anything in Red

ger community, which he credits to “an increase in positive commercial activity in the neighborhood.” Frankie believes that Ikea is a major compo-nent to the cur-rent upswing and has seen an increase in business since it opened. Frankie explained that it is not due to spillover from Ikea custom-ers, but rather the employees who need to buy breakfast or lunch. Frankie believes that there would be more customer spillover to other local businesses if there were more stores to go to. With the economic opportunity in the neighborhood expanding, this is perhaps a likely scenario somewhere down the line in the future.

One of the somewhat unexpected spillovers from Ikea has been at Wa-terfront Laundry on Van Brunt street. The laundromat opened at the be-ginning of 2010 and has seen good business since. This is because aside from the many local residents who do their laundry there, Ikea employees go there as well. Frances, an employee at the laundromat, has lived in Red Hook her entire life. She believes that Ikea has helped the neighborhood by attracting people from all over the New York metropolitan area and con-tinues to push Red Hook in a direc-tion away from its crime-ridden repu-tation of past decades. “Ikea has had a large positive impact on the area, I don’t understand why anyone would say otherwise”

One explanation for the Ikea em-ployees using the same laundromat is that Ikea has prioritized employ-ing residents from the neighborhood.

Lateshia, who specializes in local em-ployment at the Southwest Brooklyn

Industrial devel-opment Corpora-tion, explained that since many of Ikea’s employ-ees are local, more money is brought into and kept in the neighborhood. Lateshia grew up in Red Hook her entire life and sees the neighborhood as a dramatically changed place, which she credits to an increase in

commercial activity. With Ikea con-tributing to local commerce, the up-swing that the neighborhood is expe-riencing is further pushed in a positive direction and away from the violence and crime that Lateshia recalls seeing growing up. “Although there has defi-nitely been an increase in automobile traffic, people seem happier now”.

However, others will tell you that there is hardly an increase in traffic. Ikea has shuttles that take people from other neighborhoods to and from the store in an effort to help with the pre-dicted traffic jams that people worried about before the grand opening. If one is to pass by Ikea on foot, they are likely to see more trucks on the streets than cars, only some of which are ac-tually going to the store.

Although the traffic jams never quite materialized, there is definitely an in-crease in traffic in the sense that more people are now coming to the neigh-borhood. Perhaps this kind of traf-fic, which would seem like an average amount in many other areas of Brook-lyn, is more of a blessing than anything else. Anyone who is involved with the community will tell you that Red Hook is one of Brooklyn’s oldest and best-kept secrets. With more and more peo-ple coming to the neighborhood, hope-fully the secret can be let out, which can really only benefit the community.

Although Ikea was heavily protested and disputed over before it opened up, none of the negatives predicted by the local activists have materialized. Only time will tell what happens, but the future is looking bright.

Ikea Spillover Effect? Red Hook Not Yet a Retail Boomtown

by Kevin O’Hanlon

“Frankie explained that it is not due to spill-over from Ikea custom-ers, but rather the em-ployees who need to buy breakfast or lunch. Frankie believes that there would be more customer spillover to other local businesses if there were more stores to go to. “

Page 2 Red Hook Star-Revue July 2010

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The Red Hook Star-RevueServing the Brooklyn Communities of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill No. 2, July 2010

Publisher .....................................................................................Frank GaleanoCo-Publisher & Editor ..................................................................... George FialaReporter .................................................................................... Kevin O’HanlonReporter ...........................................................................Eliza Ronalds-HannonHome Repair Columnist .................................................................Charles WhiteGonzo Columnist and Night Owl .................................................. John McLaughlinGraphic Art Supervisor ....................................................................Greg D’Avola

The Red Hook Star-Revue is published monthly by Frank Galeano and George Fiala. It cir-culates by mail and on newstands throughout the downtown Brooklyn area. Our mission is to be the tie that binds our dynamic communities together, by providing one place for local achievements, art and history to be celebrated, local problems to be identified and solutions discussed, and also by providing an affordable advertising medium for local shops and institutions.

Our mailing address is 101 Union Street, and we can be reached by phone at 718 624-5568 and by email at editor@redhookstar.com or info@redhookstar.com.We welcome letters to the editor as well as press advisories which can be mailed to us at :

Red Hook Star-Revue101 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11231

or emailed to editor@redhookstar.comIf you have story ideas or ideas in general that may interest us, please contact us by all means and methods outlined above. Next issue will be out the first week of August, 2010.

Red Hook Star-Revue Page 3July 2010

www.oldbrooklynwines.com

The newest piece of Brooklyn’s on-going Waterfront project opened on June 6th at the bottom of Atlantic Avenue. This brand new park in-cludes a playground by Mi-chael Van Valkenburgh, a Brooklyn-based landscape architect. Alongside the park, which does a nice job of prettying up the area around the One Brooklyn Bridge Park condo devel-opment, a Water Taxi dock was built to take passengers to and from Governor’s Is-land. Pier 6 now joins Pier 1 as the functioning parts of the ongoing project which is sup-posed to be an 85 acre park upon completion.

With such a large project in the works, there is no doubt that this will bring a large number of people to the Columbia Street Waterfront area. Along with the joggers and bikers who take advantage of their respec-tive new paths, the new parks should lead to increasing pedestrian traffic as well.

Upon leaving the park and walking on Columbia Avenue, the first place that is sure to catch people’s atten-

tion is Van Voorhees Park, located directly across the street from the pier. This park offers a nice baseball field along with basketball, tennis and handball courts, as well as a pub-lic playground for children.

Sprinkled beneath Columbia street residential apratments are a series of restaurants and specialty shops. As one meanders up Columbia to Kane Street, Iro Sushi, open from 11:30 am till 11:00 pm during the week and 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm on Saturdays and

Sundays merits some pretty rave re-views from Yelp sushi lovers. Whether one is looking for an inexpensive place for lunch or a nice restaurant to take

the family to, Iro Sushi offers some of the area’s most reasonable Japanese cuisine.

In be-t w e e n K a n e and De-g r a w s t r e e t s is the m o s t c o m -mercial area along the Waterfront. Wink-sworth is a women’s clothing store with a wide range and variety of items, located at 119 Columbia street. Located directly next door is Melissa deli, which fits the traditional New York City style of bodegas. Next to that is Freebird Books, located at 123 Columbia Street. Freebird opened in 2004 and offers many different kinds of used books at bargain price, as well as a location for community meetings, book clubs and workshops great for any neighborhood reader. The newly opened 5 Burro Café is located at 127 Columbia street and specializes in Mexi-can dishes, s p e c i f i -cally burritos. Along with the Sugar Lounge located just down the street, both places are showing World Cup

What Will Greet the Potential Influx of Joggers Coming From Brooklyn Bridge Park?

by Kevin O’Hanlon

matches into the middle of July and are great places to watch the games, as well as enjoy a nice meal. Located in between the two restaurants is the

Brooklyn Greenway Initia-tive, which was founded in 1998 and is a non-profit organization responsible for conceiving, planning and coordinating the develop-ment of the Brooklyn Wa-terfront Greenway. Located just feet from there is Acca-rdi’s Hardware store, which has become a real fixture in the community since open-ing on Columbia Street in

1915. Accardi’s offers tools and mate-rials for any sort of project, commer-cial or just fixing something around the house. Nine Cakes bakery is down the street from Accarrdi’s and is one of the highest rated bakeries in the area. Specializing in, but not limited to cupcakes, the fruits of their labor are guaranteed to please just about anyone and are available at a relative-ly low cost.

On the other side of the street is where the New York/ New jersey Port Au-thority is located, along with the New York Waterfront Commission Police. The bike lane which runs along the fence doubles as a great place for run-ners as well, providing a wide lane to the small flow of traffic. Although the dividing fence, as well as the cargo cranes beyond the fence, might be considered a bit of an eyesore by some, the shipping industry has been a sta-ple of the area since the community was built.

Besides all the commercial stores and homes, there are usually familiar faces

along Columbia Street, especially in the summer months. One man, an

Ethiopian refu-gee named Es-hete, is usually seen along the bike path on the corner of Irving Street. It is at that lo-cation which he takes care of his six cats before he goes home

to his Manhattan apartment. Eshete has become a daily fixture on Colum-bia street and is likely to be one for a while.

With many development projects in Red Hook being a thing of the pres-

ent, it is likely that the new park will bring more pedestrian traffic to Co-lumbia Street.

Page 4 Red Hook Star-Revue July 2010

We Got A Letter!

The Star-Revue deeply appreciates letters and articles from local residents. You may mail in your comments to Editor, Red Hook Star-Revue, 101 Union Street, Brook-lyn, NY 11231 or email us at editor@redhookstar.com

Dear Mr. Fiala:Congratulations and Best Wishes to you and youur co-pub-lisher, Frank Galeano, for continued success with your new publication, The Red Hook Star-Revue. You are making an important contribution to our community. My fellow com-munity garden members and I were particularly delighted with the special spot (on page 6) you gave to the signs with our garden names. Sincerely, Jeanne Spriter James, Van Brunt Street

Police StoryLast June 18th was not an average night for David Cascia, manager and owner of Elite Fitness Studio. At around 9:45 p.m., Cascia, who was working in his office, noticed a man walk into the gym and approach the counter. Cascia figured that the per-son was a regular member and did not pay much attention to him. Then, the man opened up the cash register and grabbed around $6,000 worth of gift cards, which is when Cascia grabbed mace and took action. “I confronted the man and asked him ‘what are you doing?’ and he said ‘I do what I want’”. Cascia then realized that he must protect the gym members who were working out in the gym because he realized that this man was not afraid. After repeatedly asking the man to leave, the assailant picked up a bar stool and tried to strike Cascia with it, to which he picked up a stool of his own to defend himself.

From there, the scrap began. The two men began grappling and fighting,

Cascia trying to force the man out of the studio and the man trying to make away with his crime. After about a minute of struggling, Cascia grabbed ahold of the man. “I put him in a headlock from behind and sprayed him with the mace, but I maced my-self at the same time.” From there, the two blinded men continued to move the fight outside and up the block. “There were about thirty bystand-ers just watching me fight the guy”, Cascia explains, “I was finally able to hold him down until the police came

David Cascia, from a photo taken from the Elite Fitness website.

and they arrested him.” Cascia had to testify in front of a grand jury the fol-lowing week. The man is still in jail where he awaits sentencing for his as-sault and robbery charge, for which he faces up to fifteen years behind bars.

Cascia believes the situation could have been much worse. “I am only here on Thursday nights, any other night it would have been a woman

behind the counter.” Some witnesses said that they saw the man hang-ing around outside the Elite Fitness Studio, presumably staking the place out. Cascia feels lucky to have walked away from the altercation with only small scrapes and bruises. “I hope they put him away for a long time”.

Red Hook Star-Revue Page 5July 2010

Robert LombardiVideographer

(917) 748-9382

I’m not sure if there is a need for the kind of column that I envision this one as, but I am sure that that there are nagging problems that annoy us, in all of our homes, a door that sticks, a wooden window that needs to be replicated, perhaps you would like to re-do your hardwood floors, or have some cabinets built. Sometimes it would be less nerve racking if there was someone that could answer your questions.

My name is Charles White, and I am a wood worker, and a master carpenter, with 20 years in the business. I am also a graduate of the Preservation Car-pentry program at the North Bennet Street School, in Boston In this age of the blogosphere, I would prefer to answer questions, rather than just putting information out there hoping that someone cares to read it.

It will be your questions that breathes life into this column, or the lack of questions that will seal it’s fate.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Please send all queries to CharlesAnswers@redhookstar.com

Ads in the Red Hook Star-Revue appear in 6,000 local homes each

month.

The Star-Revue is a new publication that is sent in the mail to high-income resi-

dents of the 11231 and 11201 zip codes in the communities of Red Hook, Carroll

Gardens and Cobble Hill. For as little as $100 a month you can reach your

neighbors in their homes with your paid message.

For more information call George Fiala at 718 624-5568

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Charles White Answers Home Improvement Questions

Laura BuscagLici, owner of BopKat Vintage (117 union st), columbia street Waterfront District

Her favorite thing about the neighborhood: the sky when the sun is setting, and

“people just dropping by and hanging out.” I was lucky enough to witness the latter of Laura’s favorites, since when I approached her at BopKat her friend Frank LaPorto, also of Columbia St. Waterfront District, had stopped by spontaneously. The two were chatting by the entrance of her shop, soaking in the afternoon sun.

Her least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: the lack of transportation.

FranK LaPorto, columbia street Waterfront District

His favorite thing about the neighborhood: that “you know your neighbors by name,” and that “it takes forever to run an errand because you run into so many people you know.” The day I spoke to him he had gone on a simple bagel run and not returned home for an hour and a half! He also loves that fellow residents are “willing to talk about any-thing and everything.” And what were they talking about this weekend? “The economy; moving out of New York City and Red Hook [due to the economy]; the lack of transportation.”

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: the few mean-spirited people that do exist. Don’t get him wrong: “there are much fewer than other neighbo-roods,” he says, “but one out of ten

The Best Thing about a Neighborhood is that it is a NeighborhoodBy Eliza ronalds-Hannon

will have an attitude.” Mr. LaPorto also lamented the noise of traffic down Co-lumbia St., citing beer delivery trucks as the major culprits.

arturo gaLEano, columbia street Waterfront District resident and shop owner; former car mechanic.

His favorite things about the neighborhood: “[I love that] I know the kids, their fa-thers, and their grandfathers,” Mr. Ga-leano told me. When kids come back to the neighborhood, he said, “they ask me, you remember me? Of course I remember you! I’ve known you since you’re ten!”

He gave me an example of the small-world phenomena he loves to witness, saying that recently a man had come by Mr. Galeano’s store (located at 104 Union St., in a space that he shares with his son, real estate agent Frank Galeano) and told him that his son was

also named Arturo. “I told the kid that’s good news for you, it’s a smart name.” Mr. Galeano said. Then the boy’s father explained that he’d named his son after Arturo Galeano himself, “because ten years ago, you sold us such a great car, and we felt so glad that we wanted to name my son after you.”

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: Mr. Galeano’s only complaint is one rooted in the past. “There was a time when I was feeling if I walked out of this block people would ask what are you doing here,” he said, explain-ing that he felt unsafe straying far from his own block, especially toward Red Hook. But, “it got better when they started building new houses on Presi-

dent Street,” he says, because “the resi-dents called the cops all the time, the cops were always on that corner.” He went on to declare it, “the best change that ever happened,” because “then the city started to take care of the area.”

Jermale Mccolley and Margaret Palca of Margaret Palca Bakes (191 columbia street)

Their favorite thing about the neighborhood: the heavy foot traf-fic in the area, evidenced by the fact that, as Mc-Colley said, “we have a lot of reg-ulars.” McColley also likes that the bakery is on what he called

“the liveliest block” in the area.

Their least favorite thing: Construction. “We understand its necessary though,” Margaret said. “The infrastructure is old.”

carmen Pelaez, cobble Hill resident.

Her favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: The diversity of available activi-ties. With parks right around the cor-ner and an abundance of restaurants and stores, “you are never at a loss for something to do,” Ms. Pelaez said. She also loves that in the neighborhood, “people know you and look after you. Your neighbors will ask, ‘did you get that package delivered yesterday?’” And their concern is genuine, she added, cit-ing the genuine public mourning over the death of Tom, a Cobble Hill fixture and panhandler dubbed ‘the concierge of Court Street’ by the New York Times.

Her least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: “Its getting slightly passive-aggres-sive,” Ms. Palaez said, which she feels is a shame because “I love the directness of the neighborhood.” She’s careful to add that this new attitude is exhibited “not nearly as much as Park Slope,” which she points to as its source. Now,

there are people who, “if you step in front of them [in line] by mistake they make faces instead of just saying excuse me.”

cara, former resident of carroll gardens.

Her favorite thing about the neighborhood: “It’s like an adult sesame street,” Cara said “It’s really relaxed but there are lots of fun things to do.” Cara also loves the architectural scale of the area, noting that the buildings don’t overpower the scenery.

Her least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: ”It started to get too expensive.” The inability to afford the boutique merchandise, let alone to purchase a home, is what eventually drove Cara out of Carroll Gardens and into the-South Slope.

charlie rosenwald, cobble Hill resident.

His favorite thing about the neighborhood: its walk- and pet-friendliness.

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: the noise from the BQE. “There’s been talk of covering [this part of the BQE] up and building a park on top of it,” he said. “But it’s been too expen-sive.”

“Neighbourhoods, in some primitive, inchoate fashion exist wherever human beings congre-

gate, in permanent family dwellings; and many of the functions of the city tend to be distrib-uted naturally—that is, without any theoreti-cal preoccupation or political direction—into

neighbourhoods.”  Lewis Mumford

“you are never at a loss for some-thing to do,” Ms. Pelaez said. She

also loves that in the neighborhood, “people know you and look after you. Your neighbors will ask, ‘did you get that package delivered yesterday?’”

Paul DeFontes, carroll gardens resident.

His favorite thing about the neighborhood: “It’s beautiful!” Also, “it has all the stores you need - drug stores, grocery stores, clothes stores. And if you need some other stores there’s more nearby.

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: Parking. “It can take me an hour to find a space around here.”

Earle, 22-year red Hook resident

His favorite thing about the neighborhood: “Nothing.”

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: the fact that people think Red Hook is a place you should stay. It re-ally is a place you should pass through.” Also, “no one here cares about the com-munity.”

I set out one recent morning to question residents on their most and least favorite aspects of the neighborhood, with the aim of providing food for thought for our local readers.

Spending a sunny Saturday in Red Hook and the surrounding neighborhoods can make a girl think she’s stepped into a time warp. The friendly neighbors, quaint shops, and old brownstones make the area feel more like a 1950s Pleasantville than a big apple borough. Almost every resident I approached was more than happy to chat, especially when they learned that to do so would involve extolling the virtues of their beloved neighborhood. Here are some of the best answers that I got during my day of strolling and polling:

Vincent Bostic, son of a carroll gardens resident:

His favorite thing about the neighborhood: Pier 6 park.

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: Parking. “The best he could say about it was, “it’s not impossible.”

susan Kaye, cobble Hill resident

Her favorite thing about the neighborhood: convenience to the city by car, albeit other than rush hour.

Her least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: The way it has changed. “I’ve been here 26 years,” Kaye said, “and the atmosphere has changed. After 9/11 people moved to Brooklyn be-cause they wanted to be a little farther from the city without being inaccessi-ble.” But with that came attitude took away sense of community. Made things more expensive – property, food, etc.

christian rosario red Hook resident His favorite thing about the neighborhood: “Ikea was a nice touch.”

His least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: “The crime. The cops are always around here - domestic stuff.”

Maria rodriguez red Hook resident Her favorite thing about the neighborhood: “Going to the pier and getting fresh air.”

Her least favorite thing about the neighbor-hood: Litter.

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Page 8 Red Hook Star-Revue July 2010

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Red Hook Star-Revue Page 9July 2010

RED HOOK

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIALSALES & RENTALS

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Red Hook is a hot spot for both residentialand commercial property today, due to thecontinued growth of the city and the relativelylow cost of living making the area attractive toresidents and investors alike. Red Hookpromises reasonable growth with a housinginventory that meets both family and industrialdemands at prices that are favorable comparedto Manhattan and other adjacent neighborhoods.Red Hook is a stable quality neighborhoodwhere the crime rate is low and the city iscommitted to a safe and a secure future.

If you are considering the purchase ofcommercial property for sale in Red Hook,there are some important factors that youshould consider in selecting the best site foryour property. While there may be plenty ofBrooklyn land for sale, not all of the availableproperty is created equal. The location thatyou select will make a big difference in howsuccessful your investment will be.

One of the first things you need to considerwhen shopping for Red Hook land for sale isthe proximity to competitors, suppliers anddistributors. Not only is proximity a matter ofconvenience for a prospective businessowner that may choose to lease your property,but it can have a lot to do with the success ofyour property as well.

The cost of the Red Hook land for sale isanother important factor as you are determiningwhere to invest your commercial real estatedollars. Some neighborhoods will be cheaperthan others, but may also bring a lower profitmargin in the long run. To determine the fullvalue of commercial property for sale in Red Hook,you must factor in the cost f the neighborhood,

the rates for services, nearby amenities andfuture plans for the areas. Galeano RealEstate can help you with some of this basicinformation, but you will do well to do plenty ofresearch on your specific area yourself also.Finally, you will want to look at practical factors,such as availability of Red Hook land in thearea and possible environmental factors. Thesemight include the viability of the land itself forbuilding, and natural resources that are locatednearby. With careful consideration of a varietyof factors, your investment into Red Hook landfor sale can be a successful and profitable one.

When considering commercial developmentRed Hook has it all. Brooklyn is the fourthlargest city in the nation, within a stones throwto Manhattan and major transportation thereare no limits. Commercial development inRed Hook is a prime choice for enterprise.

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This prime commercial parcel is located afew blocks from the waterfront as well as thenewly built IKEA. The site consists of 39,000sf (Dikeman St., Otsego St., Dwight St. andCoffee St.) and is easily accessible from theBQE and Battery Tunnel. The site plan hasbeen subdivide into 14 commercial lots withapproved plans to build two story commercialcarriage house styled buildings.

Purchasing lots available from 1000 sf -39,000sf are available at the cost of $150/sf.This allows one to design and build their ownbuilding, or use the existing approved plans.

A location central to Downtown Brooklyn’sbooming economic core but away from the

confines costs and confusion of Manhattan.Red Hook enjoys an outstanding Business

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Page 10 Red Hook Star-Revue July 2010

Music & Art Calendar

Saturday, July 10 @ 12pm $10 for Both shows! Brooklyn County Fair presents at the Urban Meadow: (corner of President & Van Brunt) Maynard and the Musties,The Dixons,Alana Amram and The Rough Gems,The Newton Gang,The Doc Marshalls, Me Before You, Mi-chaela AnneSaturday, July 10 @ 8pm $10 for Both shows! Brooklyn County Fair presents at Jalopy: Buddy Hollers, Big Slyde, Frankenpine, Red RoosterSunday, July 11 @ 8pm $10, Lichtman’s Brain Cloud, The Grand Street Stompers featuring members from The New Orleans MoonshinersTuesday, July 13 @ 8:30 pm $5, Tony Scherr TrioWednesday, July 14 @ 9pm Free:Roots N Ruckus * Hosted by Feral FosterThursday, July 15 @ 9pm $15 Danny Kalb Trio, Blind Boy PaxtonFriday, July 16 @ 9pm $10 Chef of the Pas-tures aka Marty Cutler & Kenny Kosek, Bob Jones and John SchollSaturday, July 17 @ 9pm $10 The Canebrake Rattlers, Run MountainSunday, July 18 @ 8pm $10 Stephanie Nilles, Benedicte MaursethTuesday, July 20 @ 9pm $10 Frank Fairfield, The Dust Busters, Blind Boy PaxtonWednesday, July 21 @ 9pm $free Roots N Ruckus *, Hosted by Feral FosterThursday, July 22 @ 8:30pm $15Reddy Music Jazz Series

Red Hooked: Summer ShowJul 17 - Aug 22July 17 is opening day for BWAC’s Summer Art Show, Red Hooked, with a Meet the Artists re-ception and music by Klaro! Over 200 artists will be exhibiting over 800 new works of art.

Dear culture lovers. This is the part of the paper where we plan to offer space to local art-ists and venues. By our choice this will be an interactive exer-cise - meaning that to receive publicity and mention local artists and venues are respon-sible for notifying us of their advance plans. Please email us at arts@redhookstar.com or send us material via the mail to the address listed on page two of this issue. We are a local paper so we would not considser publishing museum listings in Oshkosh, however, if you are a denizen with a big gig coming up in Oshkosh, we might be interesting in that. For this month we will focus again on our favorite place for music, the Jalopy theatre, as well as a bried mention of the upcom-ing Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition show “Red Hooked,” which we found out about as you could using an internet search provider, which we actually hate doing, being an old-fashioned newspaper.

The big event this month at Jalopy is taking place Saturday July 10th at the Urban Mead-ow (the big garden/park at the corner of Presi-dent and Van Brunt) as well as inside their own venue. Following fast on the heels of their highly successful Brooklyn Folk Festival on May 22nd, this festival includes performances from the daughter of famed musical genius and crony of all the legendary beats that your parents might have heard of, David Amram, who recently performed himself at the Clear-

water Festival alongside Pete Seeger. Alana Amram and her band, The Rough Gems, have been described as “primarily a mix of country and folk with an occasional turn towards pop rock from an unidentifiable decade - a melting pot of good old American styles. It’s a vintage sound with a modern perspective.” And her voice has been compared to Janis Joplin. Also appearing are the Dixon’s, a Brooklyn based country swing band that will transform Van Brunt Street into the Louisiana Bayou. When a music festival is put together by the folks at Ja-lopy, we can be pretty much assured that every performer will be worth hearing - so let this be the Star Revue pick of the month. Following is the rest of the Jalopy schedule for July:

Park Slope Resident and former Blues Project member Danny Kalb will be appearing at Jalopy on Thursday, July 15th.

Friday, July 23 @ 8pm $10 A Night of Country Blues Guitar: The Little Brothers, East River String Band, Ari Eisinger, Pat ConteSaturday, July 24 @ 9pm $10 Wretched Re-fuse String BandSunday, July 25 @ 9pm $10 TBDTuesday, July 27 @ 9pm $10, Ixion Burlesque, Weimar Burlesque, Featuring Albert Garzon as Kurt Weill, Jack Hardy, Emma GravesWednesday, July 28 @ 9pm $free Roots N Ruckus * Hosted by Feral FosterThursday, July 29 @ 9pm $10 The Pre-War Ponies, Matt MunisteriFriday, July 30 @ 9pm $10 Moira Smiley & VOCO, The M6Saturday, July 31 @ 9pm $10 Veveritse Brass Band, Black Sea Hotel

The Red Hook Star-Revue is looking for arts writers to keep us all informed on the local scene, including music and fine

art reviews as well as an occasional in-depth piece. Slight cash payments are part of it, not to mention some sort of

notoriety associated with a byline. Please email us at arts@redhookstar.com

with your ideas!

Red Hook Star-Revue Page 11July 2010

Red Hook HistoryA Monthly Feature of the Red Hook Star-Revue: Knowing our past is vital to knowing our future

Located at 157 Columbia St., Acca-rdi & Sons Hardware, founded during the first World War, has served Red Hook families an merchants continu-ously for 95 years and is now in it’s third generation of family ownership. Originally located at 139 Columbia St., David Accardi’s grandfather set up shop supplying equipment for the home production of wine and beer. At that time, Red Hook was home to many Italian immigrants who worked in the shipping industry at our local piers and ports. “It was very rare that

someone would go to the liquor store and buy a gallon of wine” Accardi explains. “An Italian person would never do that. It was taboo.”

Back in those days, residents of the

neighborhood would buy grapes out of a freight train on Baltic and Columbia streets. From there, they would call upon Accardi & Sons for items such as pressers, crushers and barrels.

Accardi Hardware - Living Historyby Kevin O’Hanlon

Since those days, the neighborhood has greatly changed, as well as the Accardi business. Today, you will not find any wine manufacturing materi-als, but you will find much of what you may need to build a wine cellar. The store established itself as a hardware store in the 1960’s by supplying local building companies and factories with a wide variety of project materials and tools.

David Accardi feels fortunate to have stayed in the area for so long. “Many times I thought of leaving but always

felt the neighborhood would come back”. While it remains true that the area experienced some rough patches over the decades before the 2000’s, Accardi stayed put believed that his business could help turn the neigh-borhood around. The recent upswing in the neighborhood has allowed for more businesses to open, condo build-ings being constructed, and has result-ed in an influx of new, young residents moving into the neighborhood.

Since this “new era” of the neighbor-hood, as Accardi refers to it, business has gotten better and his customer base changed, as he now caters to more individuals as some of his former commercial clients have since left the area.

Accardi’s faith in the neighborhood has lasted for many years, part of which can definitely be credited to his philosophy that hardware stores help to build communities. This is because many years ago, if someone wanted to build something, they had to go to their local hardware store as big stores like Home Depot or True Value did not exist. Over time, a community is made through construction projects and re-lationships that develop through hon-est business practices.

Page 12 Red Hook Star-Revue July 2010

SelectMail

101 Union StreetBrooklyn, NY 11231718 624-5568george@selectmail.comwww.selectmail.com

In case you were wonderIng what’s goIng on In the funny old buIldIng wIth the eagle on the front of It down on unIon street, you are rIght to wonder because we’re not quIte done yet and haven’t put up a real sIgn. so here Is what we can tell you:

rIght now: Select Mail, our main company, has been a brooklyn-based business since 1988. we are an old-fashioned lettershop, which means that we send out mail in bulk for local institutions, non-profits, retail businesses as well as legal firms and an occasional city agency. our clients include st. francis college, arts at st. ann’s and celebrate brooklyn. by automating the addressing and mail preparation process, we are able to achieve postage discounts. some of the things we do often include printing and mailing postcards, newsletters, journals and newspapers (including this one), and personalized fund-raising appeals.

every thursday: In renovating 101 union street, we revived The Star Theater, which during the first half of the 20th century presented epic Italian Marionette theater every night as many Italian immigrants were accustomed to seeing back home. our stage includes a modern fender pa sound system, a bass amp, a full drum kit, and many microphones. our initial venture in the arts is our thursday nIght open stage night. on thursdays, from 7 pm to 10 pm we invite anyone, young or old, to come and visit and if so inclined bring instruments to take part in an musical jam. we will provide refreshments and on hot nights air conditioning as well. we hope to see some talented locals enjoy themselves with us on our stage.

thIs newspaper: select Mail is part-owner of the Red Hook Star-Revue and the editorial and advertising offices are housed here. If you wish to place an ad in person, you may come by and see george, in case you wish to avoid e-mailing or phoning. of course, we’d be happy to stop by your place as well.

the future: we are still renovating and by september we will be opening our storefront printing shop. In addition to black and white and color copies, we will be able to offer mass duplicating of black and white or color images which can be emailed to us or brought in-person. other services we are planning include offset printing, faxing and notary public services.